Gareth Dale et al. eds., Green Growth – Ideology, Political Economy and the Alternatives
BookFormat, 300 pages
Zed Press, 2016
ISBN: 9781783604876
The discourse of “green growth” has recently gained ground in environmental governance deliberations and policy proposals. It is presented as a fresh and innovative agenda centered on the deployment of engineering sophistication, managerial acumen, and market mechanisms to redress the environmental and social derelictions of the existing development model. But the green growth project is deeply inadequate, whether assessed against criteria of social justice or the achievement of sustainable economic life upon a materially finite planet. This volume outlines three main lines of critique. First, it traces the development of the green growth discourse qua ideology. It asks: what explains modern society’s investment in it, why has it emerged as a master concept in the contemporary conjuncture, and what social forces does it serve? Second, it unpicks and explains the contradictions within a series of prominent green growth projects. Finally, it weighs up the merits and demerits of alternative strategies and policies, asking the vital question: “If not green growth, then what?”
Contents:
Part I: Contradictions of green growth
Can green growth really work? A reality check that elaborate on the true (socio-)economics of climate change, by Ulrich Hoffmann
What is the “green” in “green growth”? by Larry Lohmann
The how and for who of green governmentality, by Adrian Parr
Degrowth and the roots of neoclassical economics, by James Meadway
Part II: Case studies
Giving green teeth to the Tiger? A critique of “green growth” in South Korea, by Bettian Bluemling and Sun-Jin Yun
Lessons from the EU: why capitalism cannot be rescued from its own contradictions, Birgit Mahnkopf
The green growth trap in Brazil, Ricardo Abramovay
Green jobs to promote sustainable development: creating a value chain of solid waste recycling in Brazil, Anne Posthuma nd Paulo Sergio Muçouçah
Trends of social metabolism and environmental conflicts: a comparison between India and Latin America, by Joan Martinez-Alier, Federico Demaria, Leah Temper and Mariana Walter
Part III: Emerging alternatives?
Beyond ‘development’ and ‘growth’: the search for alternatives in India towards a sustainable and equitable world, by Ashish Kothari
Reconsidering growth in the greenhouse: the sustainable Energy Utility (SEU) as a practical strategy for the twenty-first century, by Job Taminiau and John Byrne
Alternatives to green growth? Possibilities and contradictions of self-managed food production, by Steffen Böhm, Maria Ceci Araujo Misoczky, David Watson and Sanjay Lanka